Could Google Music be the New Deezer?

After launching a cloud-based music service in China, the New York Post is now reporting that a global Google online music service has 'taken a step closer to reality'. Google Music is largely intended to rival Apple's iTunes, and would theoretically offer music streaming and downloads.

Google seems set on world—or at least web—domination. A few months after shaking up the publishing world with the announcement of Google Books, the firm has now set its sights on the digital music industry.

Negotiations are currently taking place between the Vice President of Google Mobile Platforms (and Android inventor), Andy Rubin, and digital music licensing agencies, in the aim of gaining online publishing rights.

A music free-for-all?

Andy Rubin is particularly proud of Android's open-source nature, particularly when compared with Apple's strictly closed system. This new cloud-based music service seems like a new phase in Google's attack on the Apple fortress, with a system that could pose a seriously threat to the tight-knit world of iTunes. For users, Google's arrival in the market should help stimulate healthy competition, leading those currently dominating the digital download sector to push down their prices. The firm's main rival in the field is undoubtedly Apple, with a 69% market share in the US, far ahead of Amazon's 8%.

Google Music could be with us by the end of the year, but with no further details on Google's upcoming service currently available, it's difficult to tell to what extent it could potentially compete with Deezer, Spotify and, of course, iTunes. Time will tell.


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